Follow a day-by-day account of Hurricane Katrina's wrath, from its birth in the Atlantic Ocean to its catastrophic effects: flooded streets, flattened homes,. In all honesty, we begin looting. Hurricane Katrina Superdome Photos and Premium High Res Pictures FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The storm traveled the Gulf of Mexico and then made landfall on the Gulf Coast in southeast Louisiana near the town of Buras, on Aug. 29, 2005. I've never seen a hurricane like this in my 33-year career. 32 Harrowing Photos of the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath - Essence Mayor, what do you need?' August 27, 2015, 2:18 PM. FEMA National Situation Update: "I think that that was probably over-reported," he says. The hurricane and its aftermath claimed more than 1,800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina "Coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to get out A direct hit could wind up submerging New Orleans in several feet of water At least 100,000 people in the city lack transportation to get out Louisiana and Mississippi make all lanes northbound on interstate highways". Mississippi and Louisiana governors declare states of emergency. The top-notch special effects are alarmingly realistic and frightening, particularly when the 17th St. Canal levee breaches and when Katrina rips the roof from the Superdome, where in the days . So I finally just walked up to Danny and said, Mr. Lewis says she was raped on Monday, Aug. 29, the day of the storm. Patrice Taddonio. President Bush arrives in New Orleans and holds a meeting on Air Force One with federal and local officials. "Katrina will regenerate on Friday over Gulf of Mexico, head west-northwest then turn northward. More Stories Emerge of Rapes in Post-Katrina Chaos : NPR Other people call me the Dr. Phil of the streets.. Residents are bringing their belongings and lining up to get into the Superdome which has been opened as a hurricane shelter in advance of hurricane Katrina. by JOHN DORN. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible.Get More National Geographic:Official Site: http://bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSiteFacebook: http://bit.ly/FBNatGeoTwitter: http://bit.ly/NatGeoTwitterInstagram: http://bit.ly/NatGeoInstaHurricane Katrina Day by Day | National Geographichttps://youtu.be/HbJaMWw4-2QNational Geographichttps://www.youtube.com/natgeo When presented with the additional cases collected by victims' advocates groups, Benelli acknowledges that the police simply doesn't know the extent of sex crimes after the storm. web site copyright 1995-2014 At 7 am Katrina is a Category 5 with 160 mph maximum sustained winds. The city's buses have been positioned around the city in locations that have never been flooded. President Bush declares Louisiana and Mississippi major disaster areas. And you need to order mandatory evacuation. A suicide did occur inside the Superdome, . And based upon that ["Hurricane Pam" planning exercise], I knew they needed to evacuate. They cast a wide net over this important event and Driving in from the popular suburb of Metairie, it's the first building you pass. We had pre-positioned supplies, medical teams, Meals Ready To Eat, and food in the Superdome. ". They were finally able to leave the city on Saturday. According to a New York Times article of September 29, "During six days when the Superdome was used as a shelter, the head of the New Orleans Police Department's sex crimes unit, Lt. David . Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans, La., on Aug. 30, 2005. We've all feared a catastrophic hurricane striking New Orleans. "A week after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans state officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin pumping water out of the bowl-shaped city. Every little thing helps. I aint about to leave, Gettridge said. ". Some parishes order mandatory evacuations. FRONTLINE home+WGBH+PBS, FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of wgbh educational foundation. She contacted the New Orleans police in October and filed a report that she was beaten with a bat and raped on Sept. 6th in broad daylight next to a flooded McDonald's at Gentilly Boulevard and Elysian Fields, near her father's house. The interviews done as part of this project reflect the disaster's painful, chaotic, and murky aftermath. By the end of the day, it is upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina, with 50 mph maximum sustained winds. I laid that out for him. Winds continue to damage or destroy buildings and blow out windows. They didn't have ammunition. So I went to the premiere, knowing Danny Glover was hosting it, and I couldnt get into the screeningso I texted Spike Lee, who directed When the Levees Broke, the documentary I was in, and asked him to pull some strings, but he didnt have Dannys number. "The police was stressed out themselves," Lewis says. Surviving the Superdome - JEMS I n the HBO documentary Katrina Babies, young teen Meisha Williams recollects her experience surviving the 2005 hurricane that displaced approximately 200,000 New Orleans residents. "I at least wanted a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes [on Saturday]. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. Very shortly, he said, Cars are beginning to float out of the parking lot. After being damaged by. At daybreak, rescuers set out on boats to help others still stranded. I spoke to an airman [over the phone] he told me that it had rained very little and there was justexcept for just a few puddles of water in the parking lot, there just was no water, the guards commander, Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, who was monitoring the situation from Baton Rouge, recalled in an interview with FRONTLINE. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Gov. hide caption. Plus, if you lived in a FEMA trailer for three years like I did, the last thing you want to do is go to a trailer for medical care. Pack carefully. And I said [to the president], 'Look, we talked about that option, and then we also talked about another option, that we would federalize, and the governor said she needed time to think about it. And it was a very good meeting, I thought. And he was the first guy that told us about the amount of devastation and the levee breaches. Where is water? Benelli says his team investigated two attempted rapes inside the Superdome, and two additional reports of rapes that happened in the city, one of which was the 25-year-old hairdresser. Reports stream in from people needing rescue. Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: Richard Falkenrath, Homeland Security Adviser (2001-2004): In Fight Against ISIS, a Lose-Lose Scenario Poses Challenge for West. The two of us are going to leave. Spectacular Disaster: The Louisiana Superdome and Subsumed Blackness in City officials say 80 percent of New Orleans is flooded. We'd sent them all the information they needed. Even $20, if thats all you can afford in the recession, that helps. The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is a landmark in the city of New Orleans. All I can tell you is that in the city of New Orleans we had maybe 250 guardsmen that we could account for. Several parishes and the city of New Orleans announce emergency responders will stop venturing out once the wind exceeds 45 mph. The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. These three documentaries and nearly 190 more are all streaming online at pbs.org/frontline. By the evening of August 25, when it made . Crime is at an all-time high. And we need to get these people out of the Superdome because it's a shelter of last resort, and they only have a limited amount of resources.". At least one half of well constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. I'm just not going to go on, on public television and bash in the middle of a disaster what I think people should or should not be doing. The outer ends of the hurricane also produced tornados . - Severe flooding damage to cities along the Gulf Coast, from New Orleans to . Exacerbated by the recent BP oil spill in the region, the storm and its aftermath remains an open wound for local residents and others affected . Katrina Cop in the Superdome. Then, the airman hesitated a minute, and asked Landreneau to hold. Widespread looting continues. And the president comes, and we have this meeting. With all due respect, Mr. President, if you and the governor don't get on the same page, this event is going to continue to spiral down, and it's going to be a black eye on everybody -- federal, state and local.' to support FEMA disaster relief efforts, but it will be two days before the troops arrive in the city. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the. Female victims, now displaced from New Orleans, are slowly coming forward with a different story than the official one. In September 2006, the New Orleans Saints marched into the Superdome for their first game since Hurricane Katrina, providing the spark for a revival. What happened next was more than just a natural disaster especially in New Orleans, where the failure of the cityslevees unleashed flooding that left roughly80 percent of the city underwater. Katrina becomes a Category 3 with 115 mph maximum sustained winds. Expressed my concerns, my frustration He needed to really get us resources to save people. Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, says he is "extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government and federal partners to this terrible tragedy." But they're designed for short hauls.". Neville says she was sexually assaulted early the morning of Aug. 31st, while she was sleeping on the roof of Drew Elementary School in the Bywater Neighborhood, where she and others had taken refuge. Panels blew off and the roof was severely damaged, but it was the only shelter . Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana: When Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans poet Shelton Alexander to evacuate his home, he took his truck and video camera to the Superdome. ", At that time, I thought we had done a pretty good job because we had gotten about 80 percent of the people out. At 10 a.m., the Thorntons headed together to the Superdome. And when I saw it then, and watching it again now, I think that Trouble the Water is an amazing accomplishment, and something everyone should see about the people who had to live through what we all went through here in New Orleans. The following year, during an interview with Tom Brokaw at Columbia Journalism School, Williams said, "We watched, all of us watched . Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News/epa/Corbis. " from my view sitting inside a windowless room at FEMA headquarters during my nightshift we are working to coordinate with our federal partners, to get water out. And that is unacceptable. Michael Brown, FEMA director: We talked about it. Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. FEMA Situation Update: Because of the ensuing . The film a raw and gripping investigation of the Katrina response, its tragic consequences and its political ramifications includes candid interviews with key Katrina decision-makers, including the first televised interview with former FEMA Director Michael Brown since his resignation two weeks after Katrina hit. After the genocide in Rwanda and atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in the 1990s, the world vowed never again. Then came the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which began 20 years ago. Airborne debris will be widespread and may include heavy items such as household appliances and even light vehicles. Hurricane Katrina Superdome New Orleans National Guard - ESPN They were very civil and very cordial. "I remember reading [that New Orleans had dodged a bullet]. And he basically asked me, 'Mr. And he said: 'Mr. "We know about all the other things that happened, all the thefts, all the robberies. Another group, Witness Justice, a Maryland-based non-profit that assists victims of violent crimes, claims to have received 156 reports of post-Katrina violent crimes; about a third of those involved sexual assaults. FEMA Situation Update: "All I know is on Wednesday night I was convinced that there were no FEMA buses. Here's all these thousands of people that don't have any way to get out of the city. We'll put a couple of medical teams on standby. And they both shook their heads and said, 'Yes, you're right.' Abandoned cars remain on Interstate 10 in front of the heavily damaged Superdome September 14, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. We need you to take over logistics, distribution of commodities, etc. I gave people clues on how to pack. Katrina anniversary: Inside the Superdome during Katrina. ", Mayor Ray Nagin: We have got to start getting people out.' Issues of race, class, government response and responsibility, and political rivalries . On that first night after the storm, the city had lost power, and she was sleeping in a dark hallway, trying to catch a breeze. But problems persist. ", President Bush arrives in Louisiana. But we were working frantically to get it out. But more and more people were being evacuated from their rooftops after being in the sun for long periods or overnight and being put on highways on high ground. August 29, 2005. "[On Air Force One] we gave the president a briefing on everything that had gone on. The line to get in was already a quarter-mile long. I had all the police, the firefighters in rescue mode, so the looting thing started to rear its head. More than four days after the storm hit, the caravan of at least three-dozen camouflage-green troop vehicles and supply trucks arrived along with dozens of air-conditioned buses to take refugees out of the city. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. ' Gettridge told FRONTLINE. Thats just one of the chain of catastrophes at the local, state and national level brought to vivid life in FRONTLINEs Emmy Award-winning 2005 documentaryThe Storm. Katrina becomes a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph maximum sustained winds. A decade later . A hurricane warning is issued for north central Gulf . When Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans poet Shelton Alexander to evacuate his home, he took his truck and video camera to the Superdome. "It was that terrible. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the garage, up the stairs and to the helipad. Find out in the 2015 documentary Outbreak, newly available to stream on FRONTLINEs YouTube channel. In October 2005, The Historic New Orleans Collection initiated Through Hell and High Water: Katrina's First Responders Oral History Project, partnering with local, state, and federal agencies to document their experiences. The spot urges victims to report their assault by calling 1-800-656-HOPE. Floodwaters keep rising. Issues of race, class, government response and . And we said, "Plan your route carefully. More women are coming forward with stories of sexual . It was there, she says, that an unknown man with a handgun sexually assaulted her. An estimated 25,000 angry and exhausted people are still at the Convention Center; buses begin arriving to evacuate them.